1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire harness.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of various electrical devices, for example, lamps, motors, and switch units for operating these lamps and motors, are mounted in a vehicle. Each of these various electrical devices is connected to a wire harness through which electric power from a battery or the like and a control signal for controlling the electrical device are supplied to the electrical device. The wire harness is made of a plurality of electric wires, connectors, and the like. The electric wire includes a core wire and an insulating coating portion that coats the core wire. The connector includes metal terminals and a connector housing, in which the metal terminal is installed at the end of the electric wire and is connected to the electric wire, and the connector housing is made of insulating resin and accommodates the metal terminal.
In recent years, a vehicle network system (for example, refer to JP-A-2004-268630) is used as a communication system that controls a plurality of vehicle electrical devices mounted in a vehicle. In the vehicle network system, a plurality of electronic control units configured to control the respective vehicle electrical devices are connected to each other via a multiplex communication wire, exchange multiplex signals with each other, and control the operation of the vehicle electrical devices based on the multiplex signals.
Typically, the entire wire harness routed in the vehicle is made by assembling together sub harnesses that are respectively sub-categorized for a plurality of system circuits. For example, there are the following system circuits: a standard circuit for an indispensible electrical device such as a head lamp or a wiper, and an option circuit for an electrical device such as a security system or a rear fog lamp which is selected depending on the type or grade of the vehicle. When such a vehicle wire harness is manufactured, it is determined whether the entire wire harness is appropriate while taking the disposition or terminals of connectors, the types of electric wires, and the like into consideration.
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 18A, a wire harness 500 in the related art is made up of three sub harnesses A, B, and C. Root ends (left ends in FIG. 18A) of the sub harnesses A, B, and C have connectors aa1, bb1, and cc1 connected to control units (not illustrated), respectively, and branch ends (right ends in FIG. 18A) thereof have device-side connectors aa2, bb2, and cc2 connected to destined connectors of controlled devices (electrical devices), which are targets controlled by the control units, respectively.
When optional controlled devices are additionally connected to the wire harness 500, as illustrated in FIG. 18B, a manufacturer prepares a wire harness 510 having sub harnesses D and E, branched wires of which have device-side connectors cc3 and bb3 connected to destined connectors of the optional controlled devices, respectively.
Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2004-268630